2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X El Capitan

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hey guys.

I have a couple of questions..

( I am using a Mac Pro 1.1 flashed to 2.1 )

Firstly,

I am trying to install a clean version of El Capitan from my MacBook on which I have installed Catalina.
When I try to install the El Capitan on Catalina it says it isn't possible so he won't let me to start up the El Capitan installation and install it on external SSD. Second thing I tried was opening disk utility from cmd+r option, I formated the ssd but I dont have an option of installing the El Capitan, only reinstalling the Catalina, I have a bootable usb with El Capitan installation on. And it just wont recognize the SSD.
Is there any tutorial for this particular problem ?

Would it be possible to install the latest version of OSX supported by 1.1 then upgrade it to El Capitan?

Secondly,

Would it be a better option to install the newest version of Ubuntu on it?
I use this computer primarly for basic video editing, would love to try Davinci Resolve so switching software isn't the problem. I just don't want to lose the crazy power I get from FCPX.

Thirdly,

I have an option for upgrading the graphics card for 1050 TI, I am nut sure will mac work with that card. ?


If you have any suggestions for my Mac Pro that would be very helpful !

Thank you,

Have a nice day!

All of the answers to your questions can be found in this forum.
Try the search function.

 

[ber404]

Hi, got a mac pro 2.1 with el capitan 10.11.6, and i have unexpected reboots or applications close unexpectedly.
I don't know how it was installed, but I suspect a wrong cpu type or something like that, is it possible ? How can I check that ?

 

[Mastropiero]

So, it is the end of the road for my beloved MP 1,1. It's gotten to a point when I really can't be arsed anymore to go through all the steps needed to lengthen its life. It is slow, loud and hot.

Will miss it dearly but I reckon 13 years is a good run.

Thank you all for your help and advice over the years.

 

[gerforce1]

i followed the video exactly but when it came to drag the target volume into terminal it would not let me drag my startup disk ssd which has my now running lion on it. Is that why...you did not mention how to set target disk or what that exactly means. So i dragged in my second internal disk and when it restarted it just came up to same old lion system. what can i do know? Help! Im going to try to restart from that disk i guess. The app was of course on my start up disk SSD so I do not know what to do.

 

[gerforce1]

i used the video on page 56 from 2015 Pikify

 

[gerforce1]

Boot into your new El Capitan OS...
Then navigate to Applications:Utilities, run the Migration Assistant.
You should be able to select your old OS on the other disk as the source...

how can i boot into my other drive which was the target drive? It did not do it automatically. It just went right back and started up Lion. Mac Pro 2,1 When I go to start up disk it will not give me the choice of the other disk I guess because installer did not come up/activate.

 

[rthpjm]

Hello gerforce1,

Please be aware that I do not visit this forum regularly any more. My MacPro has been sent to my museum in my attic space!

There are a couple of things you can try.

1. Use the App from post #1390
2. Use the Terminal and type in commands

Apple’s terminology is to “bless” a bootable partition. Bless on its own simply marks the partition as bootable. Choosing which partition to boot from is done from Startup Disk System Preferences panel or from the Terminal using the bless command with the --setboot option.

If all is well, you should be able to reboot, and it will boot into the installer.

The App will check if there is an existing folder containing the El Capitan install data, if it is already there the app will offer to re-bless the folder.

If you want more control and understanding then use the Terminal. I wrote the procedure in an earlier post...
Remember to change the volume name to match your system!

2006/2007 Mac Pro (1,1/2,1) and OS X El Capitan

Hello @overshoot Firstly, I have to say that the Pikify tools have not been tested on an Xserve. I’ve never owned one, sorry. From memory, other members have managed to get Xserves running. You might need to manually fix things though. Fundamental, the MacPros just need assistance to get past...

forums.macrumors.com

If there are still issues, then something is probably “broken”. Try rebooting, when you hear the boot chime, hold down the ALT key until you see the boot selector (I’m assuming your graphics card will show the boot screens). Now hold down the CMD and V keys then use the mouse to click on the install partition. This should enable “verbose mode” and you will see lots of text scrolling past. Perform a visual check to see if you can see any error messages.

 

[gerforce1]

thank you so much for responding!!!!

I followed the video like i mentioned above and I dragged in the other internal drive 9TB as the target volume. I think I have two possible reasons it failed but

not sure and need your insight. Also, now that I have tried it once do I have to delete anything or just try again with corrections...

My business associate gave me the mac and I did not know that there were three 3TB drives raided together in a striping configuration and it appeared as

only one drive 9TB. Also, I previously tried to download El Capitan to the startup drive and it came up of course with the message that I could not install on

this machine. Do you think it left something on the system that is messing things up...also, how do the drive that will be the target drive have to be

prepared...does it have to be clean or ? Also, can I use a 32gig flash thumb drive as the target volume? Then, if my installation is successful whatever drive I

use, how can i transfer the el capitan over to the SSD existing startup drive which now has Lion? Thank you Sir

 

[Madr]

hello
so i just installed el capitan on my Mac Pro 1.1 upgraded to 2.1 firm
32gb ram , ssd, apple broadcom 802.11ac
asus hd7950 directcu II 3gb on normal mode, it loads screen after system load through hdmi connection and 2k resolution

I followed the great guide for pikify script v12 on page 53 and installed 10.11.6 directly
Its working perfect with default processors
problem is i bought a pair of xeon x5365 slaed but installing them makes system freezes after 1-2min and reboots after that, then it keeps rebooting
i tested that processors on snow leopard and were working ok, couldn't test with yosemite, i wanted elcapitan so badly
is this a known issue?
any help is apreciated

Too bad this conversation didn't continue. I have the same problem after i installed the 5365's. Lions boots fine. Everything is seen in Lion but once i boot into El Capitan it restarts around or a bit after the login.

2,1 update was done some time ago. And did the SMC update today but not sure before or after inserting the CPU's.

Changed back the video card to 7300 gt. Reseated ram. PRam reset. Nothing worked.

The answer from somebody else to Tidon post was to reseat the cpu's. But i don't believe that would be the problem while it still boots into Lion and works fine there.

I think i'm gonna do the SMC update again. Also going to try to boot into recovery mode and see what it says.

Anybody got some tips?

Thanks!

 

[Inspector42]

I have been running El Capitan on my MacPro 1,1 (firmware updated to Mac Pro2,1 but SMC left untouched) with 2 Xeon X5355 SLEAG (this stepping has enhanced halt state enabled) and 24GB RAM without issues. Looking at the specs the X5365 is specified with 150W TDP while the X5355 has 120W. The symptom you observe is similar to that of regular PCs when current draw exceeds power supply capabilities.
It only takes a small current spike to trigger that. Hence you should check the stepping of your CPUs (Enhanced Halt State is available on X5365 SLAED) as that might help staying below the critical power draw. The reason why it works on older version of OS X is that utilisation of CPU hardware has improved with newer kernel features and hence the power draw tends to be higher on El Capitan compared to let's say Lion when CPU utilisations is high. Snow Leopard is also largely 32bit, which should also result in less power draw.
I have never really done any measurement on this though, hence there might be other issues.
Have you tried with just 16GB of RAM ? Not sure though, if that strains the same part of the power supply as the CPU.
Recovery mode may also work as there are less kext launched. Safe mode could be another option to try, which has less stuff launched as well.

The other issue with the 3.0GHz version is temperature as without SMC update the fans spin slower and you might need to use smcFanControl to adjust. However that should not kick in that shortly after startup.

 

[Madr]

I have been running El Capitan on my MacPro 1,1 (firmware updated to Mac Pro2,1 but SMC left untouched) with 2 Xeon X5355 SLEAG (this stepping has enhanced halt state enabled) and 24GB RAM without issues. Looking at the specs the X5365 is specified with 150W TDP while the X5355 has 120W. The symptom you observe is similar to that of regular PCs when current draw exceeds power supply capabilities.
It only takes a small current spike to trigger that. Hence you should check the stepping of your CPUs (Enhanced Halt State is available on X5365 SLAED) as that might help staying below the critical power draw. The reason why it works on older version of OS X is that utilisation of CPU hardware has improved with newer kernel features and hence the power draw tends to be higher on El Capitan compared to let's say Lion when CPU utilisations is high. Snow Leopard is also largely 32bit, which should also result in less power draw.
I have never really done any measurement on this though, hence there might be other issues.
Have you tried with just 16GB of RAM ? Not sure though, if that strains the same part of the power supply as the CPU.
Recovery mode may also work as there are less kext launched. Safe mode could be another option to try, which has less stuff launched as well.

The other issue with the 3.0GHz version is temperature as without SMC update the fans spin slower and you might need to use smcFanControl to adjust. However that should not kick in that shortly after startup.

Thanks! I also got 5355's SLEAG running in my other mac pro. No problems. I think i don't have the 150 watt TDP 5365's. I have the SLAED ones as you linked and i think those are 120 watt TDP. Both 2006 mac pro's have efi update and smc update to 2,1.

I did a verbose start up. Recovery mode was also looping. Safe mode maybe another option which i haven't tried.

Anyway this is what Verbose mode said about errors:

panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff80121ce6fa): Kernel trap at 0xffffff8012183336, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0xffffff801900a2a8, CR3: 0x000000004d5d4000, CR4: 0x0000000000002660
RAX: 0xffffff7f80000000, RBX: 0xffffff8016a5c1c0, RCX: 0xffffff7f80000028, RDX: 0x000000009900a280
RSP: 0xffffff8873fe3cd0, RBP: 0xffffff8873fe3d00, RSI: 0x00000000592ef5cf, RDI: 0xffffff8015d0a330
R8: 0xffffff801c63f4a0, R9: 0xffffff8873fe3e90, R10: 0x000000006a8da464, R11: 0x00007fc1c2a0fe90
R12: 0xffffff801c6c1c30, R13: 0xffffff8015b07000, R14: 0x0000000000010000, R15: 0xffffff8015d0a330
RFL: 0x0000000000010202, RIP: 0xffffff8012183336, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000000

Fault CR2: 0xffffff801900a2a8, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x4, PL: 1

I could switch the cpu's and see if the problem moves. I think CPU 4 means CPU 1 core 4. So maybe it will say cpu 8 then. But i don't want to open it up again. I double checked if the cpu's were really in the middle of the holder. But maybe when fitting the heat sinks something moved. But it could also be the CPU's aren't that great.

I also have 2 spare 5355's but i'm not sure if they are matched.

And i run 16 GB of memory. 2 times 8GB. I see no errors leds when i press diagnostic or without.

Is there a cpu stress test i can do in Lion? Geekbench 2 gives a normal score but not 100% sure it uses all the cores.

 

[Madr]

Before i forget. Could also be a GPU issue. CPU KP are sometimes linked to the GPU. I normally run a 4780 PC card in slot 2. I fried another PC card in slot 1 because of heat and i think the memory is to blame a bit. That old fried PC card was working fine before flashing but after 1 day of working as a flashed card it died. And yes i was upset. hahaha

Anyway i don't run games on this machine just logic so i don't need heavy graphics so i run the 4780 on a 8 speed lane slot nr 2. I think i even tried slot 1 today but not sure. Because i try to avoid that.

I think i could run the 7300 gt in El capitan before without KP's but not 100% sure any more. Only thing were the waving stripes indicating the video card couldn't hold up. Those striped are still there but it crashes after a couple of seconds.

 

[Inspector42]

Thanks! I also got 5355's SLEAG running in my other mac pro. No problems. I think i don't have the 150 watt TDP 5365's. I have the SLAED ones as you linked and i think those are 120 watt TDP. Both 2006 mac pro's have efi update and smc update to 2,1.

I did a verbose start up. Recovery mode was also looping. Safe mode maybe another option which i haven't tried.

Anyway this is what Verbose mode said about errors:

panic(cpu 4 caller 0xffffff80121ce6fa): Kernel trap at 0xffffff8012183336, type 14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x0000000080010033, CR2: 0xffffff801900a2a8, CR3: 0x000000004d5d4000, CR4: 0x0000000000002660
RAX: 0xffffff7f80000000, RBX: 0xffffff8016a5c1c0, RCX: 0xffffff7f80000028, RDX: 0x000000009900a280
RSP: 0xffffff8873fe3cd0, RBP: 0xffffff8873fe3d00, RSI: 0x00000000592ef5cf, RDI: 0xffffff8015d0a330
R8: 0xffffff801c63f4a0, R9: 0xffffff8873fe3e90, R10: 0x000000006a8da464, R11: 0x00007fc1c2a0fe90
R12: 0xffffff801c6c1c30, R13: 0xffffff8015b07000, R14: 0x0000000000010000, R15: 0xffffff8015d0a330
RFL: 0x0000000000010202, RIP: 0xffffff8012183336, CS: 0x0000000000000008, SS: 0x0000000000000000

Fault CR2: 0xffffff801900a2a8, Error code: 0x0000000000000000, Fault CPU: 0x4, PL: 1

I could switch the cpu's and see if the problem moves. I think CPU 4 means CPU 1 core 4. So maybe it will say cpu 8 then. But i don't want to open it up again. I double checked if the cpu's were really in the middle of the holder. But maybe when fitting the heat sinks something moved. But it could also be the CPU's aren't that great.

I also have 2 spare 5355's but i'm not sure if they are matched.

And i run 16 GB of memory. 2 times 8GB. I see no errors leds when i press diagnostic or without.

Is there a cpu stress test i can do in Lion? Geekbench 2 gives a normal score but not 100% sure it uses all the cores.

It seems you have touched upon most suspects already. There seems to be different information regarding TDP for that CPU out there but since Apple used them in their regular products they should work, particularily if you have the version with the enhanced heat state enabled.
I did have one faulty CPU when doing the upgrade initially but that lid the error LEDs and the machine did not even boot.
I think the CPU matching is overrated as my machine runs with an unmatched configuration after I had to swap the faulty CPU, but that is at 2.66 GHz.

When I did the overclocking of my Hackintosh (see signature) I used PRIME95 to really max out all cores in order to verify the cooling configuration.

Another thought: "page fault" could also be triggered by marginal RAM timing, I vaguely recall reports about certain memory modules acting up after OS updates. That may not show up during diagnostics. If nothing else comes to mind, swapping RAM modules is a lot easier than swapping CPUs.

If the reboot would happen before the login I would have said it is the kernel update that came with latest security updates in 2018.

 

[Madr]

Thank! But it’s not the Security update 2018-004 because i didn’t install that. I got 2 el capitan hd’s and they both act the same. Also both run perfect in the 5355’s machine i also have.

It could be ram getting too hot. Normally Mac fan control tries to keep them around 50 Celsius to protect them. I have a batch of cheap (less than 1 euro the gb) micron 8gb sticks. But without fan control they can reach 70 degrees Celsius easily. But i never let them run without fan control. And it takes some time before fan control is loaded after boot. Which reminds me that KP always happen before i see any fan control app is loaded. I have around 3 or 4 programs running because they give different readings.

I got some old 512/1gb Apple ram with big Heatsinks which i need to move onto the micron ram. But so far it’s very difficult to get the termal paste of the micron ram.

I have to call a shop i buy my computer hardware from and ask if they know the best way to remove it. There is an articlean product around for tough termal paste. I’m not sure it the name is right. And i already have 99% isopropyl and i think this kit second ‘liquid’ is just isopropyl. But i can’t find the first ‘liquid’

If i use isopropyl most of the termal paste doesn’t come off and i don’t want to schrape on the memory modules. So if anybody has a trick for this: i would love to know.

 

[Madr]

And yes I think the matching CPU’s is a bit overrated. My 5355’s don’t have the same long numbers but the rest is the same and they run fine.

What i also suspect is the ram speed. In this machine the duo core cpu’s ran at 2.66 ghz. So there is a multiplier. Normally the SMC handles that and if the SMC flash was done correct there should be no problem. But the first machine going to the 5355’s had duocore 3 ghz’s I think. Anyway far fetched but I may have messed up the SMC flash. A friend called yesterday while I was doing it and I did the shell commands when I was on the phone. I’m almost 100% sure it completed. I thought I took a picture but I can’t find it.

Anyway this is my test routine for today:

• Prime mark test you talk about
• smd flash again.
• Reinstall el cap. That disk is a mess anyway
• Change ram heatsinks
• put back hd4780 in slot 1. Maybe use my 5770 Mac card. But I rather not before everything is 100% I paid 5 euro for it because the guy said it had problems and needed a heat gun on the gpu chip. But I think he may have given me a working card. And these are worth money so I rather not fry it.
• Change Cpu’s for 5355’s (I have to test those anyway)
• Return the 5365’s

If anybody got more tips: let me know. I first have to other stuff today so I won’t do anything the next 4/5 hours.

Thanks!

 

[Madr]

Oh and I think you can run ram in different slots to keep them away from the logic board/gpu slot 1.

The guy in the video looks like he is using a different method Apple advises.

See: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-1-1-using-different-ram-slots.2282666/

Oh and what do mean with: “enhanced heat state enabled” the SLAED ones?

Thanks!!

 

[Inspector42]

Oh and I think you can run ram in different slots to keep them away from the logic board/gpu slot 1.

The guy in the video looks like he is using a different method Apple advises.

See: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-1-1-using-different-ram-slots.2282666/

Oh and what do mean with: “enhanced heat state enabled” the SLAED ones?

Thanks!!

Sound like a plan. I hope one of the tests will give us more concrete hints.
For heat sinks I have sometimes used Acetone to remove sticky thermal paste. I would not do that on any electronic part as it also can dissolve some plastics.
To me the RAM is the prime suspect.
Apple officially only supported 16GB on that machine using 2GB modules, many people are successfully using 4GB modules (including myself).
EveryMac
8GB modules without heat sink are definitely a stretch. I assume yours are fully buffered ? BTW, there are also quite some reports about 512MB modules not working with El Capitan.

Enhance Halt State means that more parts of the CPU are either shut off completely or use lower voltage / clock rates resulting in less power draw when there is no work for the CPU.
And unless you run calculation intensive applications like PRIME95 or video encoding, some cores will fall into halt frequently and help the overall power draw and temperatures.
Intel is usually very tight lipped on technical details so I don‘t have any more details handy.

 

[rthpjm]

I got some old 512/1gb Apple ram with big Heatsinks which i need to move onto the micron ram. But so far it’s very difficult to get the termal paste of the micron ram.

Are the 512/1gb RAM sticks in use? Do you have them fitted to you MacPro with the problems?

If “yes”, I strongly suggest that you remove them. Do not refit them. You should sell them or put them in the drawer and forget about them. The 512Mb sticks are well known to cause random panics. There were reports of similar instability with 1Gb sticks as well.

 

[Madr]

Are the 512/1gb RAM sticks in use? Do you have them fitted to you MacPro with the problems?

If “yes”, I strongly suggest that you remove them. Do not refit them. You should sell them or put them in the drawer and forget about them. The 512Mb sticks are well known to cause random panics. There were reports of similar instability with 1Gb sticks as well.

No not in use. I know about the 512/1gb ram not working in El Capitan. But thanks for replying!

 

[Madr]

Sound like a plan. I hope one of the tests will give us more concrete hints.
For heat sinks I have sometimes used Acetone to remove sticky thermal paste. I would not do that on any electronic part as it also can dissolve some plastics.
To me the RAM is the prime suspect.
Apple officially only supported 16GB on that machine using 2GB modules, many people are successfully using 4GB modules (including myself).
EveryMac
8GB modules without heat sink are definitely a stretch. I assume yours are fully buffered ? BTW, there are also quite some reports about 512MB modules not working with El Capitan.

Enhance Halt State means that more parts of the CPU are either shut off completely or use lower voltage / clock rates resulting in less power draw when there is no work for the CPU.
And unless you run calculation intensive applications like PRIME95 or video encoding, some cores will fall into halt frequently and help the overall power draw and temperatures.
Intel is usually very tight lipped on technical details so I don‘t have any more details handy.

Yes fully buffered ram. It’s 100% the same type and brand ram Apple uses but only bigger.

And 8 GB should work fine. I always forget the name of the dude I linked above with his YouTube channel. Seen all his Mac Pro 1,1 video’s but he’s wrong about the 8gb ones. It’s very normal a geekbench score is lower with double the ram. It takes longer to fill up double the space. Also geekbench is a not real life situation but rather indication. The fact he doesn’t NEED 64GB is more important note you should know when you watch his video about 8gb ram sticks. And he’s not using the heatsinks. That’s why they get so hot. Those big Apple heatsinks should give 10 degrees lower temps.

Yes I’ve been reading loads and seen all the Mac Pro video upgrade video’s on YouTube by now. Hahaha

But I still can be wrong though.

Anyway I have a question about Aceton. I called up my shop and they also mention aceton. Do you think I can use aceton on the ram chips? Or the pcb’s they are on? A normal cpu has a metal top so that’s different. But also have a pcb below it. So I don’t think aceton Will damage the pcb. Maybe the chips?

What do you think?

Also not working on this machine today. I need other stuff done and don’t want to put hours and hours into it. Tomorrow will be the day if everything goes smooth today.

I’m just finishing up my x5355’s Mac Pro 1,1/2,1.

So i’m making a disk image of the ssd which normally would be in my g5. And copy that image to a normal HD and see if it works correctly: then I have my g5 as spare for my studio.
And if that works I will make a new El Capitan install onto the older g5 ssd. So that system is finished for now and I can use it if I want.

Oh and thanks for replying! It’s always annoying to do this by yourself.

Now I’m gonna look if I have aceton in the basement. I think my mother used that for removing paint. If aceton is cool with ram chips I can start with that tomorrow! Ps nobody dares to say anything about putting ram in other slots? And not starting with board A slots 1 and 2? If that works it can change the temps I think. Because I think will run 4 sticks of 8gb per machine.

 

[Inspector42]

Yes fully buffered ram. It’s 100% the same type and brand ram Apple uses but only bigger.

And 8 GB should work fine. I always forget the name of the dude I linked above with his YouTube channel. Seen all his Mac Pro 1,1 video’s but he’s wrong about the 8gb ones. It’s very normal a geekbench score is lower with double the ram. It takes longer to fill up double the space. Also geekbench is a not real life situation but rather indication. The fact he doesn’t NEED 64GB is more important note you should know when you watch his video about 8gb ram sticks. And he’s not using the heatsinks. That’s why they get so hot. Those big Apple heatsinks should give 10 degrees lower temps.

Yes I’ve been reading loads and seen all the Mac Pro video upgrade video’s on YouTube by now. Hahaha

But I still can be wrong though.

Anyway I have a question about Aceton. I called up my shop and they also mention aceton. Do you think I can use aceton on the ram chips? Or the pcb’s they are on? A normal cpu has a metal top so that’s different. But also have a pcb below it. So I don’t think aceton Will damage the pcb. Maybe the chips?

What do you think?

Also not working on this machine today. I need other stuff done and don’t want to put hours and hours into it. Tomorrow will be the day if everything goes smooth today.

I’m just finishing up my x5355’s Mac Pro 1,1/2,1.

So i’m making a disk image of the ssd which normally would be in my g5. And copy that image to a normal HD and see if it works correctly: then I have my g5 as spare for my studio.
And if that works I will make a new El Capitan install onto the older g5 ssd. So that system is finished for now and I can use it if I want.

Oh and thanks for replying! It’s always annoying to do this by yourself.

Now I’m gonna look if I have aceton in the basement. I think my mother used that for removing paint. If aceton is cool with ram chips I can start with that tomorrow! Ps nobody dares to say anything about putting ram in other slots? And not starting with board A slots 1 and 2? If that works it can change the temps I think. Because I think will run 4 sticks of 8gb per machine.

Acetone is a pretty capable solvent so I would use it only very scarcely on a PCB e.g. by dampening a cotton cloth and then wiping the thermal paste carefully off the contaminated surface. It might remove the printing from the chips together with the sticky thermal paste though. It vaporized quickly which helps the careful application.
Just to avoid any confusion we are talking about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone.

As far as RAM is concerned you seem to have done all the necessary research, even beyond what I went through. Regarding the selection of slots I can only speculate - usually I would like to place the RAM modules where the electrical connection is shortest to the memory controller just to prevent any electrical noise being attracted by longer copper path or open sockets. But I have not familiarized myself with the detail of how these RAM modules are connected in a MacPro. In my mind the worst that can happen is instability or no boot. Hence I would just give it a try in the other slots and if the machine boots, run some torture test using PRIME95. If it does not crash, I believe you are good to go.

 

[Inspector42]

One more thought on confirming or rejecting RAM temperature as an issue: If you have a strong fan or hair dryer with option to switch off the heating handy, you may just blow some extra air into the RAM compartment from the side while the case is open.
If that does not eliminate the reboot, you can spare yourself the cleaning and application of bigger heat sinks.

 

[Madr]

Acetone is a pretty capable solvent so I would use it only very scarcely on a PCB e.g. by dampening a cotton cloth and then wiping the thermal paste carefully off the contaminated surface. It might remove the printing from the chips together with the sticky thermal paste though. It vaporized quickly which helps the careful application.
Just to avoid any confusion we are talking about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone.

As far as RAM is concerned you seem to have done all the necessary research, even beyond what I went through. Regarding the selection of slots I can only speculate - usually I would like to place the RAM modules where the electrical connection is shortest to the memory controller just to prevent any electrical noise being attracted by longer copper path or open sockets. But I have not familiarized myself with the detail of how these RAM modules are connected in a MacPro. In my mind the worst that can happen is instability or no boot. Hence I would just give it a try in the other slots and if the machine boots, run some torture test using PRIME95. If it does not crash, I believe you are good to go.

Thanks! The x5365’s machine is alive!!

I moved the 2 big fin Apple heatsinks from old 512mb Apple ram to the 8gb modules et voila!

Didn’t use aceton. I used wasbenzine. Which is petrol gas for washing (roughly translated)

It didn’t remove the info on the ram chips.

But I’m not out of the woods yet. There is a 5 degrees Celsius difference between the 2 modules. The first ran for 2 hours while I monitored the temps and did the other one.

It could be the second ram needs more burn in time. I see the difference now becoming a bit lower but not much. Sometimes goes to 4 degrees difference.

Also I turned off macs fan control and it’s running on auto to SMC is regulating the fans.

I’m running a simple logic track to put some load on to it.

5365’s started at 40 degrees Celsius and now are at 46 and 50 degrees Celsius while logic is running. (mac fan control cpu a/b core 0)

Ram is running at 62,5 and 58 degrees Celsius. Only exhaust fan is at 599 rpm. Very quiet.

Oh and i installed El Cap on a old Samsung 830 SSD. It has 230 mb write speed so perfect for SATA2. Maybe later I put in the other one I have to run raid 0. But i think it’s not needed. The system starts up under 60 seconds. So that also helped with the ram not getting to hot.

And thanks about ram placement tips. I don’t distant does matter on such a small scale. But yes trying is the best way to find out.

Thanks again all!

Now gonna run a Geekbench test and see if it stays alive. Maybe a prime95 but we’ll see how it goes with Geekbench first.

 

[Inspector42]

Congratulations to the successful upgrade. Glad it worked out.
I did use wasbezine myself but did not propose it because I did not know what the proper English name was, e.g, one term „white spirit“ is used for a range of similar liquids and not all are suitable for electronics.

 

[capitantilles]

Question: if I am running the Pikify app on an iMac running High Sierra to install El Capitan via FireWire target disk mode (or from a Mac Pro running Mojave with the 2,1 drive installed as an external drive) do I have to have both SIP disabled AND the date set to one in 2015 on either the iMac or the Mac Pro? I've been stuck in an install hell loop for over two weeks now trying to figure this out.

All I've been able to reach is a boot to Recovery option that then lands me at the OS X Utilities.